<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" = http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.3700.6699" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello one and all,</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dare I suggest (and perhaps live to = regret it) that beats, with all their imperfections for tuning purposes, are = nevertheless a natural acoustic phenomenon that exists whether we are there to hear it = (or tune the stubborn thing) or not.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cents on the other hand aren't = something you actually hear, are they? When I tune in the deep base (the last 4-6 = unisons, depending on the piano), I don't listen to beats of course, because = otherwise In would be there all day. I just find the place where the octave or fifth = sound most pleasant, with occasional help from friends in the 3rd  = octave, but is what I am hearing 'cents'?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>After all, 100 beats to half a tone (or = thereabouts) it is only a scale, like 1000 meters to a kilometer, 12 = inches to a foot, or 5, .... feet (what was it?)  to a mile.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Or am I missing something = ?</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Peace-Paz-Paix-Pokój</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jean-Jacques Granas</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Warsaw, = Poland</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>